Blog Post

Independent / Reviewed by Keith Potter

Yet it is the accordionist – perhaps surprisingly, but not for the first time in my experiences of the PLG bonanza – who steals the show. The 19-year-old Milos Milivojevic is a very serious Serb indeed; he doesn’t smile once, even after capping his contributions with a searing account of Magnus Lindberg’s Jeux D’anches. But, playing everything from memory, he demonstrates not merely that this squeeze-box is capable of passion and power, but all the drama and nuance you’d hope for in a performer on a more promising instrument.
The contrasting challenges of Berio’s Sequenza No 13 and Skempton’s Twin Set and Pearls are met by Milivojevic with equal focus, drawing you irresistibly into the music’s centre. And in Anthony Gilbert’s new Rose Luisante he appears to penetrate straight to the heart of the music’s soul. While there are always some composers in these PLG recitals whom one scarcely hears elsewhere these days, Gilbert’s piece movingly proves this can sometimes be a shame.